The invention relates to user interfaces for use with data processing devices, and in particular to menu option organization within such user interfaces.
User interfaces (UI""s), e.g., graphical user interfaces (GUI""s), determine the user-friendliness and user-effectiveness of an interactive apparatus. For example, a GUI frees the user from using command languages. This is especially relevant to apparatus in the consumer electronics (CE) environment.
An example of such a CE device is the PRONTO (TM) manufactured by Philips Electronics. The PRONTO (TM) is a universal programmable remote control that was introduced into the market in September of 1998 and has most of its function selector buttons graphically displayed as menu options on a touch screen. The menu options can be distributed among several pages that are retrievable or displayable one at a time. The user can fully program the PRONTO (TM) with regard to the IR and/or RF codes assigned to hard keys and soft buttons, and with regard to what keys are accommodated on what page. More information about the PRONTO (TM) can be found at the website  less than http://www.pronto.philips.com greater than .
A drawback of a fixed graphical user interface that includes a number of pages is that the consumer may spend a great deal of time scanning through the pages trying to find a desired menu option. The PRONTO (TM) is an improvement in that the user can organize the menu options and configure the pages at will. The invention now takes this a step further and enhances the UI for the user""s convenience. It is therefore one of the objects of the invention to provide a UI that is even more user-friendly.
To this end, the invention provides a device or system that comprises a UI whose operation is governed by an adapter. The adapter is configured to dynamically arrange the menu options of the UI, thereby reducing the time the user has to spend on navigation amongst the options. The term xe2x80x9cdynamicallyxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdynamicxe2x80x9d, as used herein, shall mean that options are rearranged in response to some user pattern of past activity, determined during previous operational use of the UI, without the user having to choose a menu rearrange or re-program option. According to several alternative embodiments, the user pattern is most commonly recorded in some kind of user history or profile. In a GUI comprising multiple pages, this object can be achieved, according to one embodiment, by dynamically allocating specific ones of the menu options to particular ones of the multiple pages. The invention has specific advantages within different contexts. For example, the user-friendliness of CE equipment is greatly enhanced if the user does not have to bother about menu navigation while controlling the CE equipment, especially for video, audio or multimedia, as the control aspects interfere with enjoying of, or immersion in, the entertainment.
As another example, the graphical representation of an electronic program guide (EPG) as downloaded onto the user""s equipment is made more user-friendly using the invention. An EPG typically presents menu options in a grid-like overview, including channel indications and the type of content information available per channel and per time slot, and allows recording or tuning-in through a simple action by the user. The channels, time slots and or content type that score high on the scoreboard of most-frequently-used menu options are arranged in a way that reduces user-navigation, for example, by providing a graphical arrangement of the high-score options in a first panel, and the conventional EPG in another. Channel zapping, i.e., changing channels at a relatively high rate is preferably ignored in the procedure to create the customized EPG representation so as not to affect the score.
As another example, portals on the Internet can be customized so as to give the individual user rapid access to his/her preferences as derived from his/her user-history or profile. Further objects and advantages will be apparent below.